IRAQ: Kurdish people hail death penalty for Saddam

Kurdish people said on Sunday (November 5) they were happy to hear that former president Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death, saying that the verdict should be implemented. "This is a happy day for Kurdistan. We as Kurds are very happy about the conviction of Saddam and his aides because they hurt the Kurdish people, but we hope that no deal be reached with the Americans after the appeal or the sentence be changed. We demand an implementation of the sentence," said Kurdish teacher Ibrahim. Saddam and two other senior aides, including his half-brother Barzan are sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shi'ite villagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982. "It is a happy day to hear that Saddam and his aides were sentenced to death because he has committed the Anfal crime and gassed the Kurds. I also demand death sentence to those who defend Saddam," said Abu Baker Abdullah, a Kurd from the city. It may be many months, even years, before he is hanged as appeals are heard. Saddam is due back in court on Tuesday in another trial, for genocide against ethnic Kurds. Despite their happiness, Kurdish officials said that they hoped that Saddam would be hanged after the closure of the Anfal case. "I believe that the court's sentence against Saddam stems from the court's satisfaction of his guilt and that he deserves this sentence. I believe that there are other major crimes that await trial, so I hope that he would not be hanged only after we see the closure of the trial session, especially that of the Anfal case. Many democrats, nationalists and Islamists were convicted during his reign," said Kurdistan's Speaker Adnan al-Mufti. Saddam, his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali ", and five former commanders face charges of genocide for their role in the anti-Kurdish Anfal case in 1988, which reportedly left 182,000 Kurds dead and thousands of villages razed .

ITN Source | November 5, 2006

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